The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-03-12

discomforts experienced by Il resident
of the Arctic regions.
SUMMER SPORTS.
In the summer, when the ocean is
again free from the grasp of the ice
berg. seals disport themselves at the
mouth of every stream and %rivulet, in
order to catch fish or sea ilcas. Then
the kyack is called into reQuisltion. In
this frail construction of skin and wood
the hunter, launched upon the waves,
paddles quietly and gently upon the seal
until within range. Naturally a very
inquisitiye animal, an imitation of the
grooming noise peculiar to the phocp is
sufficient to make a seal swim on the
top of the water with its head protrud-
ing, thereby insuring Il good object to
aim at. Whistling is also rctortcd to
in attracting the seal to the surface.
The variety of seal known as the
"smooth black hair is highly priced
by the natives throughout the Territory
of Alaska north of the Aleutiau ISL
ands. Its large hide forms the COW
ering for boats and canoes, and also
serves as boot soles entirely impervious
to water. Saddle-backs are rarely
seen to the north of Point Hope. These
are very handsome and conspicuous
animals as they lie basking in the sun
upon the ice. Their color is a deep
chocolate-hrown. with q broad band Of
white, shaped like a saddle, which cx-
tends from the back around the belly,
and from this peculiar marking they
derive their name.
HOW SEAL MEAT Is COOKED.
Seal meat as cooked by the natives is
Of a dirty brick-red tint, owing to the
fact that when killed the seal is simply
skinned, the blood remaining in the
carcass acting as Il coloring matter to
the meat, TO unaccrstoned stomachs
seal meat is mpalatable, its taste re-
sembling fish more than flesh. while
the oily odor is, Of course, prevalent.
Bnt if. when newly caught, a seal is
blcd. and the flesh allowed to soak for
Il few hours, the meat, either fried or
baked, becomes palatable. When
frozen there is scarcely any flavor peo-
ceptible in the meat.
One Of the sights that a warm spring
in the month of May affo rds to the OBJ
server is the number of seal that cover
the ice. Young pups, scarcely a month
old, lie in proximity to their dams,
sometimes wandering away from the
air-holes and uttering plaintive cries
like the bleat of a lamb. At this sea-
son of the year the pups can be taken
with the hand, and the sled dogs make
excursions on the ice for the purpose
Of catching these helpless little ami
mails, which are scarcely larger than n
young lamb.
Forty years ago immense herds of
the bulky Walrus might be seen disport-
ing in the waters of the Behring and
Arctic seas. Owing to the prices which
their ivory tusks were valued at hunt
ing of these pinnipeds became a source
of profit to the whalers. As a consc-
quence of indiscriminatc slaughter
their number has been sensible re-
duced, and except around Bristol bay
mud flats and upon Walrus island of
the Pribylofl' group, but few walrus are
now seen in the Alaskan seas.
CLUMSY DEUTEs.
There is perhaps no animal in nature
that appear, 50 clumsy and SO i'll
adapted to locomotion rs this cnor-
nous brute. Upon land they are
utterly helpless. When striving to
effect a landing upon an iccfloe or
rocks they use their fore ilippers to
hold on by and wait for the assistance
of each wave to hoist them up to the
desired spot. | saw during the past
summer u cake of ice some thirty
feet long by fifty feet wide
entirely covered with walrus.
As the steamer passed in through the
lead the wash from her propeller
startled the animals, and in a few min
utes the entire herd in its hurry to get
into the water crowded upon the edge
Of the ice Zoe, lifting the mass up into
the air some twenty feet. They fairly
rolled and hustled over one another in
their anxiety to escape. Unless shot di-
rcctly in the brain both walrus and seal
sink Immediately. but if the bullet has
been aimed correct the body floats
within n brief space of time. Some
times after months elapse bodies of
walrus and seal shot by the whalcmen
float on shore and are thankfully well
coined by the natives. The natives tell
me that the walrus has one pup at u
birth, that event taking place during
the month of May or June. Through
the winter these animals float upon the
ice fields, aud when the ice breaks up